


Seattle

by orphan_account



Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: M/M, set during the filming of the show, so if any details are wrong you can blame my sleep disordered brain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-28
Updated: 2016-05-28
Packaged: 2018-07-10 19:54:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7004209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bitching about hotel rooms and being bored is all fun until <i>someone</i> decides to mention sex. At that point, Ivy knows she's fucked - or at least, she kind of <i>wishes</i> she was.</p><p>(Or, one time Ivy forgot where Jinkx lived, and another, more appropriate time that she remembered.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seattle

**Author's Note:**

> i return with this month's jivy supply to single-handedly keep this ship alive on this godforsaken site

 

 

Ivy wouldn't even call it a flaw - what others saw as a weakness was simply endearing to her.

She was arguably the sweetest out of everyone left, and the challenge of roasting RuPaul and the judges seemed like an impossible task for her. It left a bitter taste on the back of her tongue every time she finished the punchline of another catty comment, the weight of her joke hanging over her and leaving her half-wanting to apologise after her set was over. She'd never really had an interest in being snarky towards the others, no matter how intense the competition got. Of the two divides that seemed to always split the workroom in half, she would be considered a pageant queen, delivering glamour and glitzy gowns rather than witticism and reads. It wasn't that she couldn't; rather, she _wouldn't_ , given the chance. Preferring to let anything directed at her roll over her just seemed like a better option. Especially when it was all going to be broadcast on international television. That's when you _really_ need people to like you.

Rolaskatox had their little clique that seemed to be splitting apart with every new challenge, and Coco and Alyssa didn't even need friends with the amount of talking (or, bickering) they did between the two of them. That left two. Lone wolves, maybe, knowing that friendships formed in a contest will ultimately lead to the downfall of the whole group.

On the bright side, the default option for conversation wasn't necessarily the worst choice, and Ivy certainly wasn't complaining. In fact, Jinkx sat at the very top of Ivy's list. Something between the two of them just clicked, and they both felt at ease around each other. A good-natured sweetheart seamstress and a kooky, excitable mother figure made for great friendship and chatter.

Well, their conversations _might've_ been great if Jinkx could just stay awake.

With every little snore, Ivy found her eyes flickering up from the (blank) page to the black-clad queen on the opposite side of the room. Head tilted down towards the desk, water bottle resting dangerously close to her arm - it was definitely a sight, which is why nobody else attempted to wake her up and instead chose to have a little snigger at the expense of her medical condition. Ivy didn't blame her, if she was being honest. Not being able to think of jokes coupled with silence throughout the room made for a pretty boring task, and she wasn't surprised that the narcolepsy kicked in when it did.

"Nobody's gonna wake her, are they?" Roxxxy said with a smirk, looking around the room expectantly. Detox just laughed, and Alaska smiled but didn't vocally respond.

By some unspoken rule, nobody used 'real' names in the workroom - it was 'she' this, 'her' that, always referring to the character rather than the person behind it. But this, this little impromptu nap session, was definitely not Jinkx. This was the person behind the mask - this was Jerick in a rather vulnerable state, akin to how Dustin was showing supposed weakness by going to help them out.

"Girl, what are you doing? Leave her be. If she wants to sleep the day away and fuck her challenges up, then let her do that," Roxxxy commented, loudly enough that it probably would've woken Jerick up if they weren't completely out of it. "Ain't your responsibility to play mommy and keep her up."

All that was offered to Roxxxy by Dustin was a dismissive hand wave, making the rest of the queens return to staring at their notepads rather than those two. He inched the stool out quietly from underneath the desk, not wanting to suddenly wake the other, and gave Jerick's arm a small shake.

"Hey. Jinkx. Wake up."

Maybe it's not the normal code of conduct for someone with narcolepsy, to just suddenly pry them from the clutches of sleep, because the reaction that even just the gentlest of touches and whispers got surprised even Dustin. Jerick seemed to snap awake, body jolting up and arms flinching defensively, tired eyes searching for the source of the disturbance whilst also trying to adjust to the sudden light.

"You alright?" Dustin asked, watching their face for more of a non-vocal response than anything. "Sorry if you were...uh, busy doing that. Just thought you might wanna focus on the challenge stuff for now."

Ivy was a sweet queen anyway, but this wasn't her helping Jinkx, it was Dustin helping Jerick from the sheer goodwill of his heart. As expected, there was no immediate vocal reply, but something better instead. They gave him a small smile, shaky and somewhat forced due to their sleepiness, before looking back down at the paper and shifting themself.

"You got me. Narcoleptic drag queen strikes again," they said almost sheepishly, returning their gaze to Dustin. "There was just a lull in my joke-writing, and it's all...quiet, and-...sleep took me swiftly."

Dustin laughed. "You can't help it, don't worry. The only thing you need to worry about is how those three are going to read you the house down because of your well-scheduled naptimes," he said with a vague gesture to Rolaskatox at the opposite table. Only Alaska was watching what was going on between the two, thankfully. That didn't mean she'd hold back, but she seemed less likely to make a low blow like that than the other two of her trio.

With a little shrug, they said, "let 'em laugh. I don't really care. Water off a duck's back 'n all that good stuff."

And suddenly they're all back to queens, reverting back to their stage personas. It felt like a switch flicking on somewhere - Ivy wasn't sure where, but she knew that the arm still holding Jinkx's shoulder wasn't exactly affection between two female characters. It was support between the two behind them, working to keep up what they needed to show for the cameras. And if Jinkx had to let her mask slip for reasons beyond her control, then Ivy was willing to let her guard down briefly too, for the sake of friendship, and at the very least just good sportsmanship.

Although it was obvious to anyone that was definitely friendship and not just a case of 'because she had to'. Ivy had always felt a little bad when the leading competition had torn Jinkx apart for her style, or her acting, or her makeup, just because it was different to how they all thought typical drag _should_ be. A part of her always wanted to just hug her after the challenges and tell her that she'd done well (and in the cases where she'd won but was ignored, made her win a big deal), but there was no place for vulnerability in this cutthroat contest. She thought that their friendliness played a massive part in it, but of course, when you're forming emotional connections, there has to be something else mixed up in there with it. Because it's never just that easy, is it?

"You must have developed a pretty thick skin over in New York, with all that...competitiveness in the scene." Jinkx paused. "And, y'know, the circus, etcetera."

"Yeah, you learn to deal with shit," Ivy replied. "Is there a drag scene...where you're from? Much of one? God, I'm forgetting the place. Uh...Seattle?"

Jinkx nodded. "Seattle."

Neither spoke for a brief number of seconds, and it seemed to click in Jinkx's mind then that it was a two-way conversation and that she had to reply properly. "Oh. Yeah, I mean, there's...some? I don't know, I'm all over the place. Ask me that again when I'm less tired."

Ivy chuckled. "What, ask where you're from again so I get to relive the shame once more?"

Jinkx simply dismissed her comment with a hand wave and a little giggle. Her laugh was so endearing that Ivy found it hard not to laugh some more whenever the former did. At this point, Ivy thought, it wasn't a connection between two characters; rather, a connection between two people under restricted conditions in which they're encouraged to have as much going on as possible. As fake as it seemed, Ivy was sure something there was real, but when she'd get to see it again, she didn't know.

 

\---

 

"So how's your hotel experience going?" Ivy asked the next morning, amidst the busy preparation for the upcoming challenge. Jinkx just looked at her with a smile before laying out her dress on the table.

"No phones, no music, no friends," she replied, turning back to focus on her ensemble. Ivy rested her elbows on the table and waited for more elaboration. "We're under these...strict rules, like we're...zoo animals or something. My experience is probably going about as _fantastically_ as everyone else's. The beds are comfy, though. I'll give them that."

Ivy gave her a little laugh. "I hope watching TV and sleeping are your favorite things to do."

"Not really. It'd be more fun if we could at least talk to each other, and I wouldn't complain as much. But they do that old trick from high school, don't they? Putting duct tape on the doors so that they'll notice if someone leaves. And guards outside the doors, too. They consider us the equivalent of the 'sexually active band geeks' in here."

"They need to control those _animalistic_ urges, so as well as being taped in, we can't even text or call or anything," Ivy joked, flattening out a crease in the monochromatic pallets of Jinkx's dress. She noticed the little glance upwards of her eyes to watch what she was doing.

"You know _exactly_ what would happen if we had phones," the redhead said with a small chuckle. "They can't regulate what's being sent, so..."

"True. Point taken." Ivy ran another hand over the pallets, moving them back upwards rather than lying them in the direction they were supposed to go. Jinkx watched her hand idly moving, glanced upwards, and wordlessly smoothened them back down to their regular position with a smile. "Sorry. Boredom's getting to me."

"It's no problem. If you want you can have my narcolepsy so at least you can sleep instead of blatantly putting off your own work."

"I'm not even putting it off," Ivy said sharply, raising her hands in mock defense.

"And the lady, she doth protest too much."

"Hey, _I_ already have my look worked out." With a small glance at the two varieties of shoulder wraps laid out on the table, Ivy gestured to her wardrobe corner and to the emerald green dress hanging dramatically on the mannequin. Next to it, on a small shelf, lay an already-styled crimson wig. Jinkx just rolled her eyes and motioned to the two stoles.

"Black or faded cream?"

Eyeing the black and cream dress, black and white tights and the little black slingback heels, Ivy ran a hand across both options. Everything seemed to be a distraction today - which wasn't a good thing, considering she was already struggling with the challenge and was relying on her runway look to carry her past the comedy performance - but god, those ostrich feathers were soft. She found herself ruffling them up and threading her fingers through them like she was touching liquid gold, watching them fluff out around each digit with every subtle movement. And then she caught herself - somewhat regrettably, because she could've had her hand in that all day - and sheepishly looked at Jinkx to give her an actual answer.

"Cream. Soften it up a little."

"My thoughts exactly," Jinkx beamed, with the same little sleepy-looking smile that Ivy found to be arguably the biggest distraction of the whole competition. 

 

\---

 

It was impossible for the producers to edit all five days worth of footage into just three quarters of an hour, so both Jinkx and Ivy just hoped that they didn't catch the little ghost of their hands over each other's while they worked next to each other at the desks.

"How dare you," Jinkx smiled, placing her hand over her heart dramatically and leaving the other just open and free on the table to be nudged 'accidentally' again. Ivy just laughed, and it sounded too nervous, or too suspicious just to be polite agreement. "Save that shit for the hotel rooms, jeez."

Another laugh. Ivy definitely had a more serious case of wishful thinking going on than before now that Jinkx had mentioned _that_. "Yeah, of course. If you so much as open the door for air, you'll be sent home."

"But what's a girl to _do_?" Jinkx whined, reaching her arms forward and stretching them across the desk, her head following closely behind as she rested it on her elbows and tilted it to look at Ivy.

"There's an obvious answer."

"I know there is."

"We're all thinking it."

"Correct."

"We're probably all acting on it."

"Also correct." Jinkx just blinked up at the brunette queen, seemingly unaware of her own comment. And then she blinked again, faster, and lifted and shook her head a little with a slightly frazzled-looking expression. "Wait, okay, I didn't mean to say that."

This time, Ivy's laugh sounded less forced - not that her others weren't genuine, but it was hard to keep things friendly when said friend was making innuendos - and she forced herself to break eye contact for a second to avoid the awkwardness. When it resumed, however, Jinkx was back to looking somewhat embarrassed and completely sleepy.

"God, the competition's really...going to my head," she said suddenly, rubbing one eye. Ivy waited for more explanation. "I mean, I'm always excited for the challenges and stuff but...sometimes I have to convince myself that I'm here for a reason, you know?"

Ivy nodded. "You wouldn't be here if you didn't deserve it. And you definitely, one hundred percent deserve it, seriously."

For a brief moment, she could've sworn she saw more colour to Jinkx's cheeks, but as the other queen tilted her head down and awkwardly rubbed across her cheek in what must have been a bad attempt to get rid of it, she heard a little laugh and the rose tint was still there upon the return of eye contact. "Thank you. You're too sweet."

Ivy nodded with a warm smile gracing her features. "Anytime."

"Words aren't really my thing early on in the morning. Especially not when we're being filmed." Jinkx forced herself to sit upright to avoid drifting off again, giving herself another shake and letting the loose strands of hair peeking out from under her hat bounce around in fromt of her face. And then, bringing her comedic, lighthearted side back into the conversation, said with a smirk, "I'm generally better at other things first thing in the morning."

Seizing the opportunity ( _carpe diem_ and all other applicable quotes), Ivy returned the joke. "Yeah? Like what?"

"You tell me," the redhead replied without missing a beat, and then her familiar little laugh rang throughout the room again. "The sex starvation's taking its toll, huh?"

Ivy had another case of wishful thinking happening, only it was like a particularly nasty crush: it came, left, and returned again stronger, angrier, demanding action on it more heavily than before. Fortunately for Ivy, she had the willpower to ignore the line being drawn between Jinkx's previously confessed 'sex starvation' and a legitimate crush.

But what she didn't have the willpower for was walking said line like the tightropes she'd practice on back in the circus. Oh, those were the days. Back when a spade was a spade and you could be in an enclosed space with a dozen other gay men without developing anything for whom you'd consider your best friend in there.

 

\---

 

 

The post-elimination atmosphere in the workroom was always tense, regardless of who had left, but since there were still seven queens left, it all seemed slightly more awkward. As the seven left were all good, strong contenders, it wasn't like people disagreed with nobody leaving, but it had just seemed a little more rough in the workroom. The two or so hours they would spend de-dragging before returning to their cages of hotel rooms were normally always filled with tired chatter and either congratulations for winners of the challenge or sympathetic consolation for those who has left. That night, there was neither; just silence, aside from the muttering between each other and irritated sighs of makeup not coming off right.

There were very little congratulations being passed around then, however, as nobody was sure who to deliver them to, or who to console first. The whole room was in a tight situation, so they all found it best to remain quiet.

Ivy noticed the difference in how she and Jinkx took off makeup. It was subtle things, really, that she was noticing, things that are only apparent once you're actively searching for more to entertain yourself with. Ivy was more refined and delicate, swiping clawed fingernails underneath each eye with wet wipes and taking each layer off in order, whereas Jinkx just took the faster route and pasted her makeup all over her face with the wipe, wiping in every direction until her cheeks were a mess of beige and brown and pale pink lipstick. It amused Ivy greatly, to the extent that she found herself watching as she struggled to remove every last patch from the strands of her natural hairline.

It was something the cameras didn't see, after all.

 

\---

 

How naïve of Ivy.

She knew better than to develop feelings for friends, and especially when said friends are in a national competition on reality TV with them. She was young, desperate, and incredibly foolish for thinking it would go any further than caught glances across the workroom. It was hardly that she didn't want it to, but some things were just better left unsaid, like 'you have my favorite kind of personality' or 'I think you're flawless despite what your sense of self-loathing tells you' or 'I'd totally play with your hair while you sit across my lap and your narcolepsy kicks in'.

As mentioned before, she thought that these were definitely better left unsaid, regardless of what happened. 

Just as suddenly as those thoughts had intruded and made an unnecessarily large space for themselves in her mind, she heard rhythmic clicking in front of her, and as her sigh came back into focus she realized it was a rather amused-looking Jinkx snapping her fingers at her. Ivy shook her head to bring her back fully into consciousness, and then grinned at Jinkx.

"Winters returns. Welcome back," Jinkx smiled back, propping up her perfume sample bottles on the table and separating their respective paper plans."I missed you for the whole thirty seconds that you spaced out and just stared past me."

"Just thinking about things. Nothing in particular," Ivy responded, completely unwilling to confess to what she was actually thinking about.

"Something on your mind?"

"Aside from the competition, you mean? No, not really."

"Did you get a good night's sleep last night?"

"You'd think that I'd have slept better with how comfortable those hotel beds are, but no," Ivy said with a little laugh. She gathered her bottles to try and shake herself back into work mode again, but Jinkx's gaze didn't seem to be shifting, and no matter how hard Ivy pretended not to notice her out of the corner of her eye, she couldn't not look back.

"...But something is definitely on your mind. I can just see it," Jinkx pried, refusing to give up. "I mean, you don't have to tell me, but if you need to then I'm your go-to girl, alright? Guy. Girl. Whatever you want."

Ivy nodded and returned the little beam, only she was sure that her polite smile couldn't quite carry the absolute sunshine and genuineness that was radiating from Jinkx's face. Neither of the two broke eye contact for a while, letting the other drink in the warmth of their gazes before they both looked down at the desk with a giggle. Jinkx pursed her lips together in a little smug smile before pocketing the perfume samples and swiping her piece of paper from the table in one swift movement.

" _I_ ," she started, drawling the vowel sound out in a way that implied something important or final was about to be said, "am going to work on the sofas. I'll be there if you need me, for any reason at all." Another warmer, brighter, bigger grin at Ivy, and she started making her way over there. Before she could, however, Ivy caught her.

"Jinkx," Ivy said suddenly, surprising even herself. "Wait."

The queen immediately stopped in her tracks and spun on the one foot she was stepping on to face Ivy with an expectant look. "Yeah?"

She found herself having to force the word out like it was tainted, or carried other connotations, like it was one of the phrases she told herself never to mention. That she desperately tried to avoid saying out loud, for some reason. "...Thanks."

Jinkx gave her a little scrunched-up-nose, squinty-eyed grin. "Anytime, Winters. You know where to find me."

"Seattle?" Ivy smiled knowingly. Jinkx's own softened, as did her gaze.

"Seattle."

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: polarise.co.vu


End file.
